The present invention generally relates to printed circuit board apparatus, and more particularly relates to connection lead apparatus used in the surface mounting of electronic components on printed circuit boards.
In the electronics industry there is an increasing need for finer pitch electrical connector leads associated with electronic components that are surface mountable on a side of a printed circuit board. Conventionally, these connector leads are metal strips that depend from the bottom of the body or housing portion of their associated electronic component and have outwardly bent outer end portions with side surfaces solderable to electrically conductive pad or trace portions formed on a side of the substrate body portion of the circuit board. Due to the very small thicknesses of these connector leads they are relatively easily bent and/or twisted away from their intended shapes during shipping or handling.
The result of this undesirable lead deformation is that when the outer end portions of the leads are placed against their underlying board substrate pads for soldering thereto such end portions are not precisely parallel to the facing surfaces of the pads and/or are not in contact therewith. Accordingly, after the lead/pad soldering process (usually a solder reflow process) is carried out one or more of the leads may be inadequately connected to its associated pad or not connected thereto at all.
From the foregoing it can be readily be seen that it would be highly desirable to provide a surface mountable circuit board electronic component with improved solderable connector lead structures that eliminate or at least substantially reduce the above-mentioned problems commonly associated with conventional connector leads of the general type described above. It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide such improved solderable connector lead structures.